The vet is Simon Arnesen, who along with assistant Blaise Baldissera, treated the koala before sending it out to Adelaide for further treatment.

We followed the koala, which Blaise nicknamed 'Caramello' into the clinic and you can follow all this on the video.

Aren't we lucky to have such awesome volunteers who will take the time to save wildlife, not to mention a local vet who will treat them!

The reason why I got this footage, is that police and SES wouldn't let us onto the fire ground - where we were headed.

Rural reporter Brooke Neindorf and I were at the road block, getting as much content as we could to help cover the fire and what was happening from that point.

We saw; people heading back out to the fire zone to check on friends, family and property, CFS travelling out to the scene to relieve crews on the ground; a truck heading out to a property to pick up sheep on a property.

If were were able to get onto the fire ground we wouldn't have got this footage.

Sometimes you just have to realise that you're there for a reason. If we'd have gotten frustrated and gone back to the office we would have missed the story.

As it turned out, other media had seen the koala on the fire ground, but didn't get the footage of it being treated - this is the only shots of it, so I've got to be thankful for that.

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Comments

Mary

It's lovely to see that the Wildlife receives media coverage, I am always saying
what about the loss of animals', when there's a fire.
Thank you for covering Caramello's story, you were definitely meant to be there at that moment.

Emma Pedler

Thanks for your comments. Yes Michael, there is a place for the koala to return to. There is a property out there called Mikkira Station and it's a koala haven.

Louise

You are doing a Great Service to promote the plight of Wildlife Rescue and this is needed to help others realise that not only property was lost and that the Wildlife need our help too. I donate regularly to any wildlife cause there is as they need all the funding they can get.

Louise

Getting this footage was a great idea as a lot of people do forget about the wildlife that are effected by these fires and focus on property and human life. We need more coverage of the wildlife rescue efforts so this may encourange more donations to help pay for their care and recovery.

Adele

Thank you for sharing this. I went and donated $30 to the Australian Marine Wildlife Research Organisation this morning. I suggest everyone who reads this give what you can to help the organisation help these guys.

Michael Bromage

I've never heard a koala speak! It's good to hear the koala is being looked after - will it have a home to go back to?

Vanessa

Thank you for your report on the often forgotten casualties of bushfires. Fire is almost always reported in the media in terms of human property loss with no mention of the loss to already stressed populations of native fauna. We need more awareness and coverage of this in the media.